Super Ikonta BX 533/16 - WORKING METER!

$295 and shipping (about $25 to USA).

This one is in very nice shape. The meter works; these meters never work. This one does!. It has two modes; one with the front cover down (for bright light; where the meter is calibrated to see through the small holes in the front cover and you find exposure with the green numbers on the exposure dial), and the other with the front cover up (for dimmer lighting scenarios, where you find exposure with the black numbers on the exposure dial). You can tell which scale to use because with the cover down a little green nub is exposed to tell you to use the green scale. I have tested both out, shooting the suggested exposure on my digital SLR, and exposures were correct as far as I was concerned. The needle snaps rapidly into position and is not sluggish at all. This is a very, very rare thing for these Super Ikonta BX models which usually are not working.

Rangefinder works great and the viewfinder is remarkably clean. The rangefinder spot looks very nice and is very easy to see. The viewfinder has a green cast, which seems to be an intentional tint; maybe to make it easier on the photographer's eyes? I don't know. But it's a clean clear view.

Glass is very clean for the age; no real flaws I can see except for the usual few bits of dust that you'd expect in a 50 year old lens. Great red-T coated f/2.8 Zeiss Opton. Double exposure prevention works. Shutter works great except just a little sluggish at 1/5, 1/2 and 1. Bulb works. High speeds sound great. Aperture moves easily and blades clean. Interior pretty clean but the usual bit of dry oxidation on the film spool pressure springs (Super Ikontas always seem to have it).

Focus is a tad stiff if you use the thumbwheel but smooth if you use the front of the lens knurled grip. Quite typical.

I have not shot film with this, but have tested all functions and everything works as expected. Rangefinder appears accurate, settling nicely at infinity and to the best of my measurement matches the lens scale at close ranges.

Bellows are in good shape without holes.

Last edited by walter23; 03-09-2011 at 06:41 PM. Click to view previous post history.

I'm leaving for Europe in a few days (arriving March 16) and I could send it from France (or Holland, but not until the end of the month). If you are interested we could work something like that out and I could bring it with me on the plane; might save import taxes into the EU. I mailed another one recently and the total weight with packing materials was about 1.7 kilograms. It can fit in a small / medium box (8" by 8" by 8").